By Kaya 959 News
“I totally acknowledge the outrage and I apologise for the disrespect it has caused to people who don’t deserve to be drawn into this.”
eNCA journalist Lindsay Dentlinger is speaking out for the first time after being accused of racism.
Dentlinger became a trending topic for days last week after viral clips showed her asking black politicians to wear masks during her interviews.
But white politicians were not asked to do the same.
Social media users accused her of racism, with celebrities such as Siv Ngesi and Kaya 959’s very own Unathi expressing their disgust.
This reporter isn’t scared of Covid , she’s scared of the black variant of Covid! pic.twitter.com/h0Zb157SDG
— Siv Ngesi (@iamSivN) February 25, 2021
It was an oversight
Dentlinger said she felt “awful” about how the clips were being perceived.
“I do acknowledge how it is portrayed. I am being portrayed as not speaking to anyone black unless wearing a mask,” she said during an interview on eNCA.
But the reporter said that some of the clips shared in the footage doing the rounds were recorded last year when reporters were not required to ask people to wear masks during interviews.
READ: Black people beware: don’t let ‘Black Panther’ joy mask Hollywood
Dentlinger also explained why FF Plus leader Pieter Groenewald was not wearing a mask during his interview after the budget speech last week, while UDM’s Nqabayomzi Kwankwa was asked to do so.
“People don’t want to hear that it was an oversight for me not to ask [Groenewald] to wear a mask. He was my first interviewee, things are working very differently in this time of COVID-19,” she said.
“Normally, I would have producers with me who would grab our interviewees, would make sure they are prepared for the broadcast. This is not happening during the time of the pandemic. Mr Groenewald didn’t have a mask anywhere on his person before I started interviewing him.”
Dentlinger said she didn’t mean to disrespect anyone and called Kwankwa to apologise.
Social media reaction
Many social media users have slammed Dentlinger’s apology. Some accused her of trying to make excuses instead of simply acknowledging that what happened was wrong.
“You should’ve just kept quiet @metrobabe! You trying to spin this by saying “I’m not even white”! Total mess, disaster!” one Twitter user said.
Some did not believe her response was an apology.
I still don't understand why she thinks its okay not to apologize.. probably she thinks she's correct.
— 031_Nkululeko (@NkuleLangaSA) March 2, 2021
https://twitter.com/kulanicool/status/1366502215217795080
You should’ve just kept quiet @metrobabe ! You trying to spin this by saying “I’m not even white” 😂🤦🏾♂️ ! Total mess, disaster! https://t.co/bg7Ck7QI0V
— Modibe Vladimir Modiba (@mmodiba10) March 1, 2021



